


A Fortunate Collision

by wordsfillthegaps



Series: PynchWeek16 [1]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Adam is a numpty, Injury, M/M, Swearing, pynchweek, pynchweek16
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-08-28
Packaged: 2018-08-11 14:11:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7895695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordsfillthegaps/pseuds/wordsfillthegaps
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The voice splintered through his head, followed quickly by a jab of pain. He was still in the shock of falling, so hadn’t registered that the driver had gotten out of the car until he heard a soft curse and a shadow fell across his face.</p>
<p>Pynchweek Day 1 - Alternative Meetings</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Fortunate Collision

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” The voice splintered through his head, followed quickly by a jab of pain. He was still in the shock of falling, so hadn’t registered that the driver had gotten out of the car until he heard a soft curse and a shadow fell across his face.  
  
“Are you alright?” Adam opened his eyes to see a rather severe looking guy crouched in front of him, hand outstretched as if to brush back his hair. “Anything broken?”  
  
Adam immediately checked himself over for any tell-tale signs, but was only met with a burning on his forehead and a thrumming in his chest. He squinted in the harsh light and shook his head, before immediately wincing at the pain that lanced through his skull.  
  
“Idiot. You could have gotten yourself killed, what were you thinking?” The stranger paused, seeming to notice that Adam still had not spoken, and was shrinking into himself, startled. He cleared his throat, his hand hovering above Adam’s arm.  
  
“Come on, let’s get you up. Careful, don’t go too quickly. You’ve probably got a concussion.”  
  
Adam slowly disentangled himself from the twisted wreck of his bike and stood, his mind running over all of the problems he was now faced with, losing his main means of transport.  
  
“Look this way.” The stranger’s voice was commanding as he gently placed his hand on Adam’s shoulder, steadying as he looked over Adam’s face. “Any double vision? Headache?” Adam mutely shook his head, testing his neck movement. It would be sore later, but shouldn’t prove a problem at work.  
  
Blue eyes pierced into Adam’s, concern filling them when his fingers brushed over a developing bruise and Adam flinched in response.  
  
“What’s your name?” He asked, so softly that Adam struggled to hear him. “I’m Ronan.” He offered, before dropping his gaze and rubbing the back of his neck, “Sorry for almost running you over.”  
  
Adam felt his lips cracking as he grinned, and the blush that spread over Ronan’s cheeks as he peeked up from beneath his eyelashes only made it wider.  
  
“Adam. Adam Parrish.” With a start, he realised that this was the first he had spoken, since being pulled out of his introspection by the ground rushing up towards his face. Ronan breathed a sigh of relief, smiling back at him before blushing again and turning to look at the metal wreckage of Adam’s bike.  
  
“What the fuck happened? It’s like you didn’t see me at all.”  
  
Adam was mesmerised by the sight of his lips moving, so much so that he failed to recognise the question until Ronan raised an eyebrow at him.  
  
“Oh. Sorry. I, uh, I can’t hear out of my left ear. I should have been paying more attention.”  
  
Ronan frowned, “That’s not a recent development, is it?”  
  
Adam laughed and waved him off “No no, a couple of years. I only have myself to blame for this.”  
  
Ronan looked at him in silence before shrugging, turning to face his BMW, still running in the middle of the road. “It’s done now. As long as you’re alright.” At this, he turned to look over his shoulder at where Adam was standing, covered in oil and dirt, with a thin trail of blood making its way down his forehead. “You are alright, aren’t you? You might be in shock.”  
  
“I’m fine, I just, I don’t know what I’m going to do without my bike.” Adam bent to inspect the remnants of it, swaying slightly as he crouched. The body of the bike had several large dents in it, twisting it into an undistinguished shape. It would take months of evenings between school and work to fix. And money, money that he didn’t have. He put his head in his hand before recoiling at the sting and finally registering the drying blood on his face.  
  
“Where are you headed?” Ronan asked, still standing over Adam, with his hand to his mouth, seemingly chewing on something.  
  
“Home.” Adam laughed sharply, before shaking his head and letting it drop, finally feeling the week’s work catch up with him.  
  
“That won’t be a problem. And, uhh, you can take my bike. If you want. Until you’ve fixed this one, or found a new one, or something. I don’t use it.”  
  
Confused, Adam squinted up at him. “What?”  
  
Ronan’s eyes flickered over his face before settling back on the bike.  
  
“I don’t use it. Not anymore. It makes sense. I almost killed you, it’s the least I could do.”  
  
“I… I can’t possibly accept that. You know I can’t.”  
  
Ronan finally looked at him, before smiling, “I don’t know, we’ll figure something out. Just take the bike, Parrish.”  
  
Adam’s heart started, whether it was the use of his name or Ronan’s smile, he couldn’t tell. Instead of dwelling on it, he stood, bracing himself on his knees as his stiff joints protested loudly. He dragged the bike into as good a standing position as it could manage before turning back to Ronan, who had raised an eyebrow. “Where to?”  
  
  
  
After he had stuffed the wreckage of the bike in the back of the car, Ronan found Adam studying the scratches in the paint and small dent at the front. “What are you doing?”  
  
Adam turned to face him, his fingers resting on the car’s shiny hood. “I could fix this. Easily.”  
  
“I hadn’t even noticed it.”  
  
“I work in the garage, it’s the least I could do.”  
  
Ronan shrugged, “Alright, if you insist. D'you have a number?”  
  
Adam laughed, and Ronan’s every-present blush deepened. “I don’t. Not yet. Just come to Boyd’s and ask for me. I’ll be there.”  
  
Ronan nodded, “Sounds like a plan.”  
  
  
  
After the dust has settled around the car as it pulled up outside the trailer park, the two of them sat in silence. Ronan took a deep breath, already aware that the afternoon would soon end, and he’d be alone again in his car, with nothing but a promise from this boy in the passenger seat. Adam spoke first, surprising him.  
  
“So, Boyd’s.”  
  
“Yep. Any specific time?”  
  
“How about Friday?” Adam was looking out of the window, which made his voice even more difficult to hear. Ronan leant further over the centre console.  
  
“Friday sounds fine.”  
  
“Cool.” Adam still hadn’t moved, his chin pressed firmly into the palm of his hand, leaning on the car door.  
  
“I…” Ronan began, but was cut off by Adam, who spoke in a torrent, as if the words had been torn from him.  
  
“I finish at 10, so if you’re not busy, then I don’t know, you could tell me about your car or something.”  
  
Ronan was silent, his mouth still hung open as if to speak, but it quickly spread into a grin.  
  
“I can teach you how to drive it, if you want.”  
  
He saw the pink dusting Adam’s cheeks and the smile which graced them as Adam opened the door and got out, before turning back to lean down into the car, meet Ronan’s eyes and say firmly, “It’s a date.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please feel free to leave a comment, I'm also on [tumblr](http://wordsfillthegaps.tumblr.com)  
> for any messages, questions, suggestions, prompts or just general chat. Come on over!


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